Crystal ball
Winter adventure
April 5, 2025
Tuesday April 15th- Tretten, Noorwegen
Exactly one year ago, on April 15, we had the viewing for the house where we live now. Back then it was a long winter and there was still a lot of snow around the house. What a difference from this year. Almost all the snow is gone and it feels like spring has arrived since late March. The planters are ready, the berry bushes trimmed, the wood cut and the summer tires are on the bikes. A lot has changed since a year ago. How we would have liked to have had a crystal ball when we first stood here.
Above the clouds
A few days after the viewing, we bought the house. This was followed by regrets and two very difficult months. Only during the summer months did a positive feeling emerge very slowly and the jigsaw pieces fell into place. Whereas the dark winter months often go hand in hand with a winter dip, the opposite occurred with us. From early November we were on ice skates and gradually the first snow came. The whiter it got, the happier we became. While clouds often hung in the valley, we were above the clouds every time, full of sunshine. Just that, the lack of sunlight, was the biggest reason we left our previous place. We began to appreciate and enjoy our place more and more.
"If we slow down, luck will catch up with us."
Learning to say no
On social media, people mostly see videos when we are back on cross-country skis or hiking through the woods with snowshoes. Although that's one or two hours a day, people often think we're on skis all day. That would be a dream! The winter months were crammed with work. We spent four weeks touring high schools in the county. Two presentations and workshops a day. We organized three winter tours, guided a tour for a hotel and also had our regular jobs. Weeks of 50-60 hours of work were more the rule than the exception this winter. Fortunately, they were all fun things, and for that we are very grateful! It is a huge luxury to be able to choose from so many fun assignments. Out of enthusiasm, we said yes to everything, thus overestimating ourselves a bit. One of our goals for 2025 is to learn to say “no” and choose for ourselves more often.
Wood stove in the tent
Between Christmas and New Year's, we spent four days in nature evaluating 2024 and planning 2025. We borrowed a tent with a stove, put on our snowshoes and set off from our home. At barely 10 kilometers, we found a beautiful spot and pitched the tent. At night it was -20 degrees, but during the day we sat pleasantly warm next to the stove and brainstormed about our goals. Every year we choose four big goals for the new year. We have many more wishes, but if we want to achieve the goals, we have to know what we really want and dare to choose. So one of those goals is learning to say “no” more often, which we have formulated as "Bounding work hours for an adventurous life". The first half of 2025 is still crammed with everything we have said ‘yes’ to, but from the second half it can become a lot quieter, if we work properly on our goal.
Intermezzo: defining our goals
When working out our goals, the first step is always visualization. We try to imagine as real as possible what it will look like when we have achieved our goal. For this goal, Zoe wrote this down:
This year, I am developing the skill of mastering my work hours, my schedule and to-do lists. That means several things:
- That I am very conscious and especially critical when new options, opportunities, ideas or contacts come up. I know that all those new opportunities give me energy in the first place, but also that they end up giving me a lot of stress and unfinished projects. Several times this year I've said NO very well, indicated that it doesn't fit, that I'm prioritizing something else, and see the result: Less is more. “If we take it slow, happiness will catch up with us” was written on the first day of this year's tear-off calendar.
- That I can separate work and leisure well. I feel useful and organized during my working hours and I do not feel an obligation to work when the computer is off. I look back on myself proudly in 2025 because I barely have “chaos” in my head anymore, but mostly because I have managed to achieve the 40%-60%. I am “playing” 60% of my time. Playing means both quietly on the couch with a book or movie, and delightfully on a trip and a lot outside. This is what I do it for! This is what I can share with Olivier!
- That I am more efficient within my working hours. I work well. I may not be wildly ambitious in work because time doesn't allow it, but because I prioritize well I still make great strides in little time AND I do what I like. WeLeaf is doing well and my boss is happy with me. The working hours are relatively short, forcing me to do a lot in a short time.
The ultimate goal is that I can have a nice, quiet and adventurous life 60% of my time. That my life consists more of free time than work.
Crystal ball
Despite all the busyness, we do enjoy the winter and the wonderful winter trips. We are one team again, can move together, dream together and look ahead. A year ago we were full of doubts about everything; work, living, Norway and our future. Now we are much more comfortable. We often want to have a crystal ball to look into the future and doubt less, but of course it doesn't work that way. We are responsible ourselves to trust that the future will be good. That crystal ball is really nothing but our own head; we are in the middle of it. It is up to ourselves to look ahead and shape that future.
